


Sonder in a Subway

by wonpilsdimple



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: 3RACHA, I wrote this after listening to Subway pt II fifteen times in a row, One Shot, Seo Changbin - Freeform, but a good person, he is tired
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-13
Updated: 2018-06-13
Packaged: 2019-05-21 17:15:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14919537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonpilsdimple/pseuds/wonpilsdimple
Summary: Seo Changbin takes the subway, not that he wants to. It's not all bad though; sometimes he gets to take naps between stops and write down lyrics as he thinks them, but other times the most interesting thing about the subway is the people in it. One-shot.





	Sonder in a Subway

The subway doors creak open and a crowd pushes through, the air smelling of weak deodorant and faux leather briefcases. In the corner is a woman, small, frail, and jittery, pushing her falling glasses back on her face as she tried not to drop a stack of paper in her hands. The pages are slightly wrinkled and smudged with red ink; perhaps she’s a student teacher. Behind her stands a man, tall and serious. He glances at his watch every thirty seconds, almost as if it would make time move faster. He wears a tan suit, clean save for a small coffee stain on his white shirt that he tries desperately to hide. The man tugs again at his suit jacket. He huffs.

The subway doors refuse to close, and the crowd wonders why. The subway waits for no one, is what they think. That’s how it should be. The metal doors slowly start to unfold and the crowd sighs in relief.

They jerk open once again. A dark figure bows his head and rushes inside the nearest subway car, his short stature making it difficult to see the face under his black hoodie. He grips a pole by the doors and stays there as they finally close, refusing to look at anybody. With eyes trained on the ground, he mumbles an apology. The subway finally starts to move away from the station.

An old woman, sitting with a cane on her lap, softly taps him on the wrist.

“It’s alright, we’ve all been there,” she says, looking up at him. Her mouth makes a small “o” as she sees his face clearly, thinking he’s not much older than eighteen. Hardly a boy anymore, but stuck in that awkward limbo between adolescence and adulthood.

Changbin gives her a small smile and nods, but guilt flashes on his face when he looks away. A middle-aged man sitting next to her mutters something about inconsiderate teenagers under his breath. The man splays his legs, shoving aside a standing pregnant woman who hardly has enough space to breathe already. She glares at him, placing a hand on her round belly and soothes the protruding bump. She winces in pain.

The young man sets his jaw and peers around. There was barely enough space to walk around in, let alone an open seat. Finally, his eyes set on an overflowing backpack that is neither breathing nor pregnant, and decides to ask the owner to move it. The only seat next to it was occupied by a college student taking an unscheduled nap. His day was mapped out on his hand in permanent marker, although it’s slightly smudged with drool as he rests his chin on it.

Changbin sighs and pushes back the soft black hood to reveal his face; he didn’t intend on scaring the student as he woke him. He reaches over and lightly places his hand on the snoozing man’s shoulder, who soon starts awake and pushes his glasses back up on his face, eyes darting wildly. Changbin clears his throat and retracts his hand.

“Hey man, I’m sorry to wake you but your backpack is taking up a seat and there’s a pregnant lady over there,” he whispers, nodding his head towards the woman behind him.

The student nods excessively, a soft “of course” swallowed by a yawn he fails to stifle. He hoists the backpack off the seat and it lands with a loud thud on the floor.

“Thanks,” he says, turning back to the pregnant woman and pointing to the seat. The student sits back and dozes off again within seconds.

The woman furrows her brow as if wondering why he would do that for her, but her expression softens. She smiles at him kindly and exhales a “thank you” as she lowers herself on the seat, hand placed on her round belly. He nods, drawing his hood up once again.

The subway car jerks forward a bit, and he grasps a pole to steady himself. They’re still only halfway to their destination. The crowd constantly looks at the digital clock by the doors; some fuming at the delay, others still fuming at the kid who presumably caused it.

The old woman taps away at her phone, playing a puzzle game. Humming happily, she elbows the middle-aged man next to her.

“You know, it wouldn’t kill you to be nicer like that young man. We all have places to be but he still puts others before himself,” she murmurs. The man rolls his eyes and crosses his arms.

“That kid?” he asks, voice gruff and dismissive. He stares daggers at the boy in the black hoodie, who stands awkwardly trying to untangle his headphones. “It’s his fault the stupid subway is late and all of these good people aren’t going to be on time.”

“Is that so?” sighs the woman. “Because right before he got on the subway he alerted the staff that there was someone standing on the rails. I don’t think that person was there by accident, bless his heart.”

“So it’s still his fault.”

“You know, it takes a lot to be that heartless,” pipes in the pregnant woman.

The middle-aged man looks around to find the owner of the voice and scoffs when he sees her. Someone snorts. He catches Changbin’s expression; it was one of boredom save for the glint of amusement in his eyes that gave him away.

“What are you laughing at, kid?” he demands.

The young man’s lips almost twitch into a smile, turning to face a window. He puts his earbuds in and closes his eyes, exhaling.

“I wish I had taken a taxi,” he sighs, leaning his head on the glass.

**Author's Note:**

> If you made it all the way here, I just want to say thank you for reading!! This my first fic on AO3 and I'm really glad it's about Stray Kids c: comments are super-appreciated~ 
> 
> Oh! Also, if you liked this, I'm taking requests so if you've got a prompt in mind let me know and I'll try my absolute best :D have an amazing day


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